The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives is expected to vote as soon as Tuesday to force the release of investigative files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with passage seen as all but guaranteed after US President Donald Trump dropped his long-standing opposition.

“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide,” the Republican president wrote late on Sunday on social media.

“And it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party.”

Democrats – and even some of Trump’s supporters – say there is nothing hoax-like in the release of authentic Justice Department records. Epstein was convicted on several Florida state and federal charges related to his sexual abuse and trafficking of teenaged girls.